Date of Graduation
Summer 2017
Degree
Master of Science in Psychology
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Danae Hudson
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect commitment to bodybuilding had on body image disturbance in men. It was hypothesized that competitive bodybuilders would exhibit higher levels of body dissatisfaction, body checking, body consciousness, and symptoms of muscle dysmorphia than regular weight lifters. It was also hypothesized that commitment to bodybuilding, as defined by the number of competitions, would predict the severity of body image disturbance as measured by body dissatisfaction, body checking, body consciousness, and symptoms of muscle dysmorphia. Participants included males who were a minimum age of 18 years old. Participants were recruited via Mechanical Turk, Amazon.com’s paid participant database. Participants who met the criteria completed a battery of questionnaires measuring body image disturbance, exercise dependence, and commitment to bodybuilding. Multiple regressions, analyses of variance, and correlations were conducted in order to test the hypotheses. Results suggest that both competitive bodybuilders and competitive fitness lifters show higher levels of muscle dysmorphia symptoms than regular fitness lifters. Competitive fitness lifters also expressed higher levels of body checking and body dissatisfaction than regular fitness lifters.
Keywords
body image disturbance, bodybuilders, competitive, fitness lifters, body dissatisfaction, body checking, body image, body consciousness, muscle dysmorphia
Subject Categories
Clinical Psychology
Copyright
© Jordan Henslee
Recommended Citation
Henslee, Jordan, "Body Image and Bodybuilding: The Impact Commitment to Bodybuilding Has on Body Image Disturbance among Competitive Bodybuilders" (2017). MSU Graduate Theses. 3138.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3138
